Granville County Courthouse · Photo: JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD · CC BY-SA 3.0Few parks or trails are on the map in Oxford
40 acres are parks and preserves, 4.5 per 1,000 residents. 37% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 1.5 miles of mapped trail cross Oxford, 0.2 per square mile of land.
Ahead of 24% of U.S. towns · #206 of 290 in North Carolina. What drives it
What kind of outdoors town is Oxford?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
How much outdoors does Oxford have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Oxford is ahead of 24% of U.S. towns, #206 of 290 in North Carolina. All four inputs are below most U.S. towns; trail miles come closest.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
44 conserved acres
1% of Oxford’s land. Who manages Oxford’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 2 of 6 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oxford Athletic Park Local Recreation Area | Town or city | 21 | Open |
| Hix Recreation Complex Local Park | Town or city | 13 | Open |
| Oxford Park And Pool Local Other or Unknown | Town or city | 4 | Open |
| City of Oxford Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 3 | Unknown |
| Granville Street Park Local Park | Town or city | 2 | Open |
| Granville County Open Space Local Other or Unknown | Not recorded | 1 | Unknown |
1.5 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
8 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
The best walking months in Oxford: April and May
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.9 | 10.8 | 11.9 | 13.1 | 14.1 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 13.5 | 12.4 | 11.2 | 10.2 | 9.7 |
| High (°F) | 50 | 54 | 61 | 71 | 78 | 85 | 89 | 87 | 81 | 71 | 61 | 53 |
| Rain (in) | 3.5 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 4.3 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.6 |
February is the driest month (2.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 89 °F). 4.5 inches fall in September, the wettest month. Summer highs reach 89 °F, too hot for the outline. The climate in Oxford →
Questions about parks and trails in Oxford
How much of Oxford is conserved land?
1% of its land, against a typical 3% for a North Carolina town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Where can I bike in Oxford?
1.5 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.7 of painted or protected lanes and 0.7 of shoulders and shared lanes.
Is there public land near Oxford?
4,412 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Oxford or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 40 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Oxford have?
Ahead of 24% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #206 of 290 in North Carolina. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Oxford neighbors.
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →